A Little Grey, A Lot of Blood
by water4willows
Summary: Sam and Dean show up at Seattle Grace
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note/Disclaimer: I don't know the first thing about the inner workings of hospitals and my medical knowledge is shoddy at best so any errors here with regards to the medicine practiced in this story are all on me. This is un-beta'd and I don't own anything to do with Grey's Anatomy or Supernatural._

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A Little Grey, A Lot Of Blood

_I have decided that I hate the ER and everything about it. I hate that every time I'm in the ER, I end up involved in some clandestine catastrophe that nearly ruins my career and the reputation of the hospital. So, I have made the executive decision to avoid the ER like the plague…right after this shift. No, I'm serious. You think I'm joking, but I'm not._

The ambulance rolled up to the ER bay doors with all the grace and tact of go-cart towards a finish line. The siren's wail seemed angrier than normal to Lexie Grey as she raced with several other doctors and hospital staff to the ambulance as it jerked to a stop. One paramedic rounded the corner of the vehicle already firing off vital signs to Dr. Hunt while the other burst from the rear of the ambulance and yanked a gurney out with determined precision. Lexie blinked at the gore before her but expertly swallowed the fear that tried to well up in her throat. She focused instead on the facts the paramedic rambled off regarding their newest patient as Dr. Hunt helped wheel the gurney towards the hospital entrance. Lexie began to follow but was instead distracted by a tall gangly man spilling out from inside the ambulance, covered in blood.

"Sir? Sir, are you alright?" She asked taking in his blood soaked clothing. She pawed at his torso, searching for signs of injury but the young man (she could see now that he could be no older than twenty) batted her hands away then suddenly swayed precariously on his feet. Lexie caught him at the armpit with her shoulder and he sagged against her for a moment but managed to stay upright.

"My brother, where are they taking him?" Before Lexie could answer, she was pushed unceremoniously aside by the young man who was taking long strides towards the ER doors and after the huddled mass of hospital staff that surrounded his brother's gurney. Lexie righted herself and followed the man as he stumbled into the ER.

"Yeah," she thought to herself, "right after this shift."

The bay doors closed behind him, right in her face, and she sighed. The doors reopened mockingly and Lexie resumed her chase of the blood covered boy. She found him on the verge of coming to blows with a large orderly she remembered was named Val.

"Hey!" she screeched, grabbing the arm of the young man as it swung back, ready to throw the first punch. She wrapped both her arms around his one, bicep muscles bulging under her grip and he practically pulled her off her feet before realizing she was holding on to his arm for dear life. Val crouched with face protected, Lexie dangled from a muscled arm and the blood spattered man stopped suddenly and blinked hazel flecked green eyes at Lexie. She blinked back with equal parts surprise and awe, they were beautiful eyes. She released his arm, dropping a few centimeters onto the tiled floor. The young man stared at her for a moment then surprised her completely when tears sprang to his eyes and the anger there was replaced by fatigue and confusion. His fists relaxed and fell to his sides, ineffectual.

"My brother," he wheezed and his pleading eyes searched Lexie with such fierceness, it took her a moment to remember how to speak again. Everyone was staring at her now, but Lexie ignored them.

"Your brother is in there, she said, pointing to the ER exam room that was a flurry of commotion "and he will NOT be okay if you don't calm the hell down and stop trying to punch people out."

The young man broke his gaze with her and lowered his head. His shoulders sagged and the aggressiveness drained away as quickly as it had come. He visibly shrank before her eyes and finished his metamorphosis into the scared, concerned family member Lexie was used to dealing with. She released a breath she didn't even realize she had been holding and stepped closer to the man.

"What's your name?" She asked softly, realizing the young man had begun to quietly quake with tears.

"Sam. My name is Sam." His tears were working pale trenches through the grime and blood on his face giving him such a pathetic look that Lexie fought the urge to pull him into a hug.

"Okay, Sam. What's your brother's name?" She asked. He hesitated briefly. Why, Lexie could only guess, but after a moment's hesitation he quietly offered the name.

"Dean."

"Last name?" Sam studied her again and she was about to turn away when he replied.

"McCready."

"Alright, Sam McCready, I am going to go in there," she stated, pointing again to the ER exam room, "and check on your brother. This," she said, pointing to the orderly, "is Val and he is going to take you to a room and make sure you're okay and get you something clean to wear. You're covered in blood." Lexie could tell he was about to argue, but he looked down at his blood splattered clothing and offered no objections. Val the Orderly tried to lead the young man away but he just stood there. Val looked to Lexie for direction but Lexie shrugged but didn't break her gaze with Sam. "Okay fine, change of plans. I'm going to go in there and check on Dean and then you'll come with me to get checked out, agreed?"

Sam studied her for a moment and Lexie felt cataloged under the intense gaze of his green stare. He nodded once, slightly and the crowd took the look as some kind of unspoken approval to disperse. Val the Orderly was off to another beside and the ER resumed its normal ebb and flow. Lexie returned Sam's nod and disappeared into the exam room with a quiet, "stay here."

The exam room was utter chaos as Lexie stepped inside the door and let it click shut behind her. Someone had had the sense to close the blinds against Sam's inquiring eyes and she could almost imagine him standing outside the room, trying desperately to look through the cracks of the blinds to get a glimpse of his brother. Lexie wondered if she perhaps should have had Val the Orderly stand with Sam until she got his brother's status and could return to him. Too late now.

"Dr. Hunt?" she practically screamed above the din of voices and machines. "Do you have a status for the family?" She managed to discern from the little information he could give her while trying to keep the other brother from bleeding out and dying was that he had suffered multiple stab wounds to the lower abdomen, was rapidly losing pressure and on the verge of dying so could she kindly not waste anymore of his time and get the hell out of the exam room. Lexie was used to letting harsh speeches like this one roll off her shoulders. Ever since starting at Seattle Grace she had been the little Meredith Grey shadow following everyone around like a little lost puppy. She opened her mouth to ask more questions (screw him, she was going to leave this room with at least one good thing to tell the waiting Sam) but the thin wail of a lost pulse accompanied by the chimes and chirps of the patient coding stopped her mid-bellow.


	2. Chapter 2

Lexie emerged from the exam room 30 minutes later to find Sam slumped in an unused chair outside the exam room. She sank down in the seat beside him but Sam did not meet her eyes this time.

"Is he dead?" Sam asked quietly.

"No, he's not dead." Sam looked up at her with a look of pure relief.

"When you didn't come back out…"

"He coded, I stayed behind to help. Coding means…"

"I know what it means," he replied with a quiet shortness. "You got him back?"

Lexie wasn't quite sure what to make of the young man who sat beside her. Obviously, this wasn't his first time in this situation and something told her that it would not be his last.

"We got him back." Lexie was surprised by the words that were coming out of her mouth. Usually in these situations she was all talk and stammered on with inexperience and nerves but something about Sam was calming. Lexie really looked at him for a moment and felt a familiar jolt of electricity in her abdomen. "Oh, no you don't, Lexie Grey," she chided internally. "Oh, no you don't." Her internal flagellation was interrupted when Sam suddenly stood, swayed on his feet and Lexie jumped up with hands out, instinctively ready to steady him. She pushed a thought away as soon as it came: he was muscular all over.

"Whoa!" She caught him before he could fall and he ran shaky hands across his face. "Are you alright?" He didn't answer. "Come on; let's get you to a bed." She dipped down to retrieve a messenger bag Sam had dropped beside the chair and tried to pull him away.

"I don't want to be admitted." Sam stated, matter-of-factly, yet allowed Lexie to lead him away from the exam room. "No paperwork." It was a statement she had heard many times before and the rehearsed hospital policy language started marqueeing through her mind but she didn't voice it. Something in Sam's manner and the precarious condition of his brother kept her silent.

She deposited him awkwardly into an unused bed far from the bustle of the main ER thoroughfare. He refused to lie back in the bed and instead threw his long dangling legs over the side of it and watched her with slightly amused eyes as she examined him for more fatal injuries and, finding none, got suture kits and gauze ready just in case. She started with his grimy face and washed the blood and dirt away with saline and caught a laceration at Sam's hairline roughly with the gauze. He took a sharp breath in and she apologized.

"I'm sorry, all this mess, I didn't see the cut." She daubed at the still bleeding wound and made quick work of the stitches after Sam refused the needle of local anesthetic. It was difficult, the wound was jagged and messy but she had been practicing sutures on grapes all week and felt confident. She thought briefly of calling Mark, she would hate to mar the pretty brother's face but her gut instantly told her it wasn't a good idea to bring another doctor into this especially since she hadn't started any paperwork on the patient. Rule number one, broken. Why not a few more. She pulled a suture tighter than intended and her patient barely made a sound, just barely.

She helped him remove his blood soaked green jacket and a just as sodden green striped button up. When she peeled the final layer off, a soft gray t-shirt, it revealed a nasty network of bruises and cuts, and she gasped a little in spite of herself. Lexie instantly reddened and tried to convince herself it was from his injuries, not the taught, rippling muscles or the perfect six-pack or the tasteful tattoo just above his right pectoral. Identical, she recalled, to his brother's. She unconsciously ran a finger above one of the more vicious looking cuts.

"What were you two _doing_?" It was meant to be an internal query but Sam's fiery eyes shot up to look at her suddenly and she hoped to God the redness in her cheeks she could feel burning there was not as noticeable as it felt. It must have been because Sam's cold green eyes softened but he didn't answer. She fought with him briefly to allow her to put in an IV.

"It's only some fluids. You almost passed out, you need them." He eventually allowed her to stick him (only once, thank heaven) and start the IV. She knew there were questions she needed to be asking, tests that she needed to be running, but for some reason it didn't feel appropriate here. He let her clean each wound, bit back moans of pain until she had the worst of the injuries covered in bandages and the rest cleaned and irrigated. She did it all in silence, a rarity she could honestly admit. The rest of the hospital seemed to be far away and their corner, secluded. She finished up the last her ministrations and looked back to Sam. He had fallen asleep with his head on his bare chest. She eased him into the bed, covered him with a blanket and closed the exam curtains into a protective cocoon around him and went off in search of more information on Sam's brother. She had a feeling that when Sam woke up, he would be more alert and have questions. She would be sure she had the answers.


	3. Chapter 3

Lexie hadn't paid much attention to the other brother when she assisted Dr. Hunt in the exam room. She'd noticed the strange tattoo that both brothers shared but she hadn't gotten a good look at his face. It took her several tries to find Dean, he was still listed as a John Doe and Lexie hadn't thought about being the only one to really know his name. She found him on the surgery board with Miranda Bailey's name chicken scratched in the same box. Hunt hadn't been the one to take him into surgery and Lexie was quietly glad. Bailey, however tumultuous her relationship with Lexie Grey, was a good doctor and would not be enraged that Lexie dare enter her operating room with a request for a status from the family.

Lexie easily found operating room 2 and donned her sterile garb. Once satisfied that she posed no risk, she placed her face mask on securely and pushed through into the quiet operating room. It was a welcomed change from the hysteria of the earlier exam room.

Miranda Bailey's eyes shot briefly Lexie's way.

"What is it Grey?" She asked absently, clearly intent on the work before her.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Dr. Bailey, I found out some information on your John Doe. His brother is in the ER." Her eyes searched the prone figure of the 2nd McCready brother. He looked complete and comfortable lying under Bailey's knife. Dr. Bailey was quiet for a moment then sighed.

"Are you going to tell me what you know, Grey? Or are you going to stand there all day making me angry?"

"What? Oh yeah, sorry. His name is Dean McCready…"

"Like the drummer from Pearl Jam?" Alex Karev asked with a smile from the other side of the operating table. Lexie shot him an angry look and ignored him.

"You're thinking of Matt McCready, Karev," Bailey corrected unexpectedly.

"His brother is here," Lexie interrupted, staring incredulously at Bailey, sure Alex's mouth was open under his mask as well. "Do you have anything I can tell him?"

Bailey sent her out of the OR with a laundry list of issues that left her head swimming. While it was serious, he would likely pull through with no lasting effects. She hurried back down the hospital halls to check on Sam and give him the good news.

When Lexie opened the curtains again she found Sam awake and pulling a change of clothes from his messenger bag. He looked up as she entered his face clear of the blood and grime she'd cleaned from his face earlier and he was strikingly handsome. She had to swallow her heart back down into her chest. She hadn't noticed she was staring until Sam, obviously amused, cleared his throat and conjured, what she liked to call, The Real Lexie Grey.

"Oh! Oh, geeze! Oh, I'm so, so sorry, I'm… I was... Um… completely staring… I mean… not at you… at your chest, I mean… oh, good grief, you're awake!" Sam tried to stifle his laugh as he pulled a fresh t-shirt over his head but she heard it and desperately fought an urge to just run away.

"I like your tat!" She said, more forcibly than she had intended then blushed a deeper shade of crimson as Sam thanked her awkwardly and finished pulling on the rest of his clothes, sans jacket which was clearly ruined and folded neatly in a hospital garment bag beside him on the bed. She noticed then that the IV was pulled from his arm and dangled unused from a ¼ full saline bag. She was about to open her mouth to protest but Sam was on his feet and in front of her in the blink of an eye.

"Thank you for patching me up. I need you to tell me about my brother and take me to see him if you can." Lexie had to take half a minute to comprehend what he had asked and the other half of the minute to decide if she would disengage herself from the grip he had on both her arms. Nah, he could stay.

"Your brother is in surgery right now, he has some pretty extensive injuries but the surgeon working on him is confident he'll pull through." Not sure why, she added, "I checked on him personally." With that remark Sam's gaze dropped to Lexie's hospital staff badge and he let her arms go. She was almost sorry.

"Thank you Dr. Grey. When can I see him?"

"He should be out of surgery in a few hours. You should stay here and rest until he's out and let me put that IV back in." She made for the IV stand but Sam stood in her way.

"I'm fine, Dr. Grey, really. The only reason I let you put that thing in me anyways was because I was pretty out of it when we got here." Then, almost as if to himself, "I don't even remember how I got here."

Lexie dove into a description of the past few hours as Sam stood listening intently. She rambled on until her tale brought them back to Lexie standing before him. Sam nodded knowingly.

"The bastards drugged me," He said quietly to himself. Lexie blinked at him, waiting for an explanation but he gave none.

"Who…" she began.

"Dr. Grey…" he interrupted.

"It's Lexie…"

"What?"

"My name, its Lexie. Forget the Doctor. I've already broken enough hospital rules treating you today, might as well call me Lexie."

"Okay, Lexie, can I see my brother after surgery?"

"Well, he'll be in recovery after but I'll try to get you in to see him. No promises." Sam nodded, distractedly and she voiced a question she'd been pondering for hours now.

"You two are close, aren't you?"

"He's my brother," he replied with a sudden incredulous look. The intensity of it made Lexie want to shrink away but the moment quickly passed. She thought unexpectedly of her relationship with Meredith and how, if it were Meredith in the OR and her being patched up by some unknown doctor, she really didn't know how she would act. Lexie was aware again of the intense scrutiny of Sam's gaze. She tried not to shudder as she stuffed thoughts of Meredith bleeding on an operating table back down into the dark places they had come from.

"Follow me, I'll take you somewhere you can wait for your brother." Lexie shepherded Sam down the maze of hospital halls to an empty surgical waiting room. She left him briefly to let the nurse on duty know Sam was there and they needed to let him and her know when Dean was out of surgery. Only after getting a promise to page her from the head nurse did Lexie return to the waiting room to find Sam pacing and talking heatedly into a cell phone. She hung back and, blushing slightly at the audacity of herself to eavesdrop, she listened to Sam's conversation.

"We're at Seattle Grace Mercy Hospital, Bobby. Seattle, _Washington_! You'd have to fly to get here and by the time you did… Yes, sir... No, sir… Bobby, he's in surgery! I don't know what else to tell you… Yes, they're taken care of. Totally not how Rufus said, but yes!... And I did and they still got the drop on us… They shot me up with something… It's not like I just let them, Bobby! I took them out, didn't I? Yes, sir… No, sir… They stabbed him, at least 10 times… I don't remember but somehow I called an ambulance after it… He's in _surgery_, Bobby! No, I didn't get admitted, I found a Doc who… I'm not stupid, Bobby. I got patched up, I'm waiting for him to come out of surgery and they seem to think he's going to be okay. That's all I can tell you… Okay… Can you get… Okay, you'll call me when you land? Fine. No, sorry, sir. Yes, sir… Bye, Bobby." Lexie heard the angry snap of the phone closing, gave several beats of silence before walking back into the room. Sam had collapsed into a chair with his face in his hands.

"Is everything okay, Sam?" She asked tentatively. He looked up at her, adorable in his bandaged condition.

"Yeah. How's my brother?"  
"No change, the nurses are going to let us know as soon as he's out." Sam nodded and put his face back into his palms. "I have other patients to see, when you're brother's out I'll see what I can do about getting you into recovery." Sam did not look up again and Lexie took it as her dismissal. She paused briefly at the door, trying to determine if the slight shake to Sam's frame was from exhaustion or the tears she imagined were tracking once again down his face. She toyed briefly with the idea of returning to his side and sitting with him a little longer, but the pull of charts and neglected patients took her from the room and back into the bustle of the hospital. Sam, though, refused to leave her thoughts and for the next several hours Lexie could think of little else than the handsome stranger she left crying in the surgery waiting room.


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: This chapter was a little bit of a struggle for me so I may come back and fix some things that just don't sit right for me. But, in the meantime, i'll post this for anyone who might be following._

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Lexie was in the middle of her rounds in the hospital's free clinic when the page came at last that Dean McCready was out of surgery and in recovery. It had been 4 hours and Sam had remained at the forefront of her thoughts, gaining her several dirty looks from nurses and Dr. Hunt who took her distraction personally. She'd spent the majority of her 4 hours apologizing for silly mistakes and far off looks. When the page came, she used the excuse to pass her patient's chart over to another intern and took off towards the surgical wing, determined to get Sam in to see his brother. She hardly expected what she found.

The surgical waiting room was empty when she went to check on Sam. The hallways around the recovery rooms were empty as well and Lexie approached the ICU nurse's station perplexed.

"Have you seen a really tall guy waiting around for news on a Dean McCready?" She asked the staff nurse behind the desk. Karen was her name, she remembered. The young girl blushed suddenly and leaned in closer to Lexie.

"He looked so forlorn. I had to let him in to see his brother. They're in curtain 3." Lexie and Karen had been in a similar situation before and Lexie fixed her with a knowing look before nodding. Karen ran through Dean's vitals which were not the best, but not critical. Karen apologized again for breaking the rules and Lexie just smiled at the nurse then walked over to Dean's cubical.

She found Sam with head bowed, clutching his brother's hand. Dean was still unconscious and a respirator worked to pull air in and out of his lungs. Lexie contemplated leaving the brothers to each other but something pulled her bodily into the curtained nook.

"Hi, Sam," she said softly, stopping the hand that instinctively went to touch his shoulder.

"Dr. Grey." He said softly then swung tired hazel eyes her direction and offered a weak smile. "Sorry. It's Lexie, right?"

"You got it." Lexie busied herself with checking Dean's vitals all the while casting concerned glances Sam's way. Dark circles had formed under his eyes and the poor guy looked like he was about to keel over from exhaustion. His brother would be out of it for some time and Lexie contemplated smuggling Sam into one of the doctor's on-call rooms. She turned to offer the suggestion, but found Sam fast asleep in the plastic ICU chair he occupied. Lexie found it endearing that this was the 2nd time the poor kid had fallen asleep in her presence and she couldn't help a small smile. Those ICU chairs were famous for their lack of comfort, but Lexie closed the curtain on the sleeping figure and went in search of Karen.

"What a dish, huh?! Too bad about his brother. I heard Bailey talking about the train wreck she found in there and all the previous scars, too." Karen gushed as Lexie made her way over to the station.

"I know! I just about died when he showed up in the ER, no pun intended. When does Bailey come back around?"

"I'll page you when she's back." Lexie thanked the nurse and began the trek back to the free clinic with her mind on the McCready brothers. She didn't get far when a grizzly bear of a man walked smack into her nearly knocking her down.

"HEY!" She exclaimed indignantly. "What are you doing?!" Large bear claws wrapped around her forearms and kept her upright.

"I'm sorry, miss," came a gravelly voice, "But can you tell me where Dean McCready is?"

Would these brother's be the bane of her existence?

"I just came from his room, he's in the ICU," Lexie eyed the gruff man before her. He was older but didn't look as if he could be related to Dean and Sam. He was a mess, scraggly unkempt beard, wild eyes and crumpled clothing. Whoever he was, he was obviously eager to see Sam and Dean. "Who are you?"

"Bobby, the boy's Uncle." He said simply, appraising her. So he knew that there were two of them and hadn't Lexie overheard Sam having a conversation on his cell phone with someone named Bobby? Something in Lexie's gut told her that he was telling the truth.

"Come on, I'll take you to them." Lexie led Bobby back the way she came and with a look to Karen letting her know everything was ok and Bobby was with her, led him past the nurses' station and into Dean's curtained room. As soon as she brought the curtain back, Sam was on his feet, taking up a defensive stance in front of his brother's bed. Lexie let her arms drop to her sides in surprise but she was ignored as Sam moved to embrace Bobby. The hug was fierce and Sam pulled back with tears once again at the corner of his eyes.

"He's going to be okay, they think, but he hasn't woken up yet." As if suddenly remembering Lexie was also there, Sam pulled himself up taller, brushed the tears away and cleared his throat. "At least that is what Dr. Grey here tells me." The grizzly bear eyes were on her again and she tried not to flinch under their harsh gaze.

"We're monitoring his condition. He's not breathing on his own just yet, but we believe he should make a full recovery. His surgeon will be in soon to explain everything to you. I'm going to have to have one of you wait in the ICU waiting room though, they don't let more than one person in at a time in the ICU and even I don't have enough weight with the nurses to get you out of that rule." Both men nodded solemnly at Lexie and then a silent conversation passed between them as Bobby and Sam's eyes met. Bobby leaned over the prone figure in the bed and whispered something in Dean's ear. Lexie couldn't be sure but it sounded like...

"Son, its Bobby. Sam and I are here for you, okay? You come back to us soon. We're not going anywhere."

Bobby straightened and patted Dean's hand before moving away from his bed.

"Sam, we'll take it in shifts. Sit here for a while more than come get me when you need a break. I'll sit with him so you can go get something to eat and get cleaned up. I'm guessing we won't have any trouble from your job?"

"No, the job's been finished. There's nothing left to do here." The exchange seemed strange to Lexie, as if an entirely separate conversation was taking place that she knew nothing about.

"Will you show me the way to the waiting room?" The grizzly bear was speaking to her again and snapped Lexie out of her thoughts.

"Of course, right this way."

Lexie deposited the bear into the waiting room and returned again to the Clinic to let them know she was on the unexpected case. Luckily the clinic had been quiet all day and there were only a few people around to take care of. After finishing up with the few patients, the clinic was closed and Lexie checked in on Dean once more. Bailey had been by and had left instructions for Lexie to keep Dean on the respirator and page her if anything happened. Lexie, on call for the rest of the evening, finished a few charts, handed over a few cases to other interns just coming on shift, then collapsed in an on call room to get a few hours of sleep, her pager clasped in one hand. She could have gone home, but something about the brother's she had devoted her entire day to, kept her at the hospital.

The night passed with no pages and Lexie awoke perplexed by strange dreams she couldn't remember. She showered, logged back into work and made her way back up to ICU to check on her favorite patients. She found Dean's room occupied by the grizzly bear and did her exam in silence under his intense scrutiny. The ventilator indicated that Dean was breathing normally and on his own again and Lexie made a mental note to indicate on his chart and talk to Bailey about removing the vent. She left the room and busied herself with going over his post op notes and was startled by what she read there. Bailey's hastily scratched notes indicated a long hard life for Dean McCready and she blanched at some of Bailey's findings. Broken bones, ruptured internal organs, scar tissue galore. It was a wonder Dean had made it out of surgery alive. However, if there was a surgeon to do it, Bailey would be it.

An alarm began to go off behind the counter that had Lexie hurrying back to Dean's room, a new ICU nurse not far behind. She pulled the curtain back to find a seriously concerned Sam trying to calm a flailing Dean who, it had a appeared, was waking up and not happy about it. Lexie made to move toward the bed but a stern look from Sam stopped her dead. "I've got this," it said. She hadn't even seen the grizzly and Sam switch shifts.

"Dean? Dean! Look at me! You're okay. You're in the hospital." Dean continued to struggle against his brother. "HEY! Eyes on me! You're in the hospital, Dean. You were stabbed and weren't breathing on your own so they've got you on a vent. You're okay, they say you're going to be fine, dude. Relax or you're going to pull your stitches." The effect Sam had on his brother was almost instantaneous. As soon as Sam was able to get Dean to focus on him, the other brother began to relax. Arms stopped flailing and the heartbeat on the monitor began to slow. After only a moment Sam had Dean under control and quiet once again.

"They're going to take that tube out soon, but until then you need to breathe through it, okay?" Sam asked softly. Lexie thought she could perceive the slightest nod from Dean. Sensing her opening, Lexie approached the side of Dean's bed.

"Dean, I'm Dr. Grey. Are you in any pain." Dean's eyes flicked in Lexie's direction then immediately back to Sam. Something unsaid passed between the brother's and Sam spoke for Dean.

"He's okay for now, but he really wants that tube out of his mouth." As if summoned Miranda Bailey chose that moment to darken the entrance way of the curtained space. Her deft fingers and dedicated ICU staff had the ventilator removed from Dean quickly and they were gone as soon as they had come. Before breezing on to other patients, she offered cursory words to Sam that while Dean had suffered some pretty severe damage, no vital organs had been hit and they got to him soon enough to avoid any long term issues. In other words, he was expected to make a full recovery.

The relief in the room was palpable and when Lexie returned to the room to check once more on Dean's pain, Sam's head was close to his brother's. Whispered words brought a ghost of a smile to Dean's lips. She didn't dear spoil their moment.

Sam didn't pay much attention to anyone else over the next several days. Dean continued to improve and he always had someone at his side in the ICU and even the regular room they moved him to 3 days later. Sam and Bobby took shifts sitting with their fallen family member and Lexie tried not to take it personally that Sam barely even acknowledged her presence anymore. It was like that some times. People clung to a reassuring force while their loved ones were in peril but once the peril had passed, they only had eyes for the patient. She instead contented herself with chatting with the floor nurses about the hunk in curtain 3 who loved his brother and was very easy on the eyes. Life was again back to normal for Lexie Grey until the day the cops showed up on her floor.


	5. Chapter 5

The officers made for the nursing station as soon as they exited the elevator. The nurse on duty pointed in Lexie's direction and the officers walked over to where she was reviewing charts.

"Can I help you, officers?" She asked as the policemen approached.

"We're looking for Dean McCready. The nurse said you're his doctor."

"Mr. McCready is in radiology at the moment getting some x-rays," she lied, not really sure why. "What's this about?"

"Its police business, ma'me. Can you tell us where Radiology is?" Lexie gave the officers convoluted directions to the radiology wing, still not sure why she was lying. The two officers walked away and Lexie contemplated her next move. Did she go into Dean's room and tell Sam that the cops were looking for his brother? Or did she go about her business and not worry about what happened to the boys in room 3. Lexie had already made up her mind and walked down the hall and into Dean's room. The older brother was fast asleep and Sam was watching some made for TV movie.

"Sam, there were some officers here a few minutes ago asking about your brother. I sent them down to radiology first. I thought you might want to know they were around before they found you." Sam was on his feet in a flash and grabbed Lexie by the shoulders.

"This is important, who did they ask for?" For the first time since meeting Sam, Lexie was aware of a simmering power in the young man, some force deep within capable of things much darker than she cared to think of. Pushing her fear down, Lexie answered Sam's question.

"They asked for Dean McCready. Who else would they ask for?" Her thoughts went to the grizzly bear for a moment; perhaps he had an outstanding warrant? Sam didn't answer her question but visibly relaxed at her answer.

"Okay, thank you." Lexie could tell she was unceremoniously dismissed when Sam pulled his slim cell phone from his pocket and moved towards the window to make his call. Shrugging her shoulders, she left the room to return to her charting.

Lexie didn't have much time to ponder the exchange she had with Sam. A patient on the floor had chosen that time to flat line and she spent the next half hour helping stabilize the patient. Emerging from the room later, she was almost run over by a gurney.

"Sorry," a masked orderly said, maneuvering around her and onto the elevator. Lexie opened her mouth to complain, but a hand on her forearm stopped her.

"Miss, we were here earlier looking for Dean McCready? Radiology said he was still up here in his room." Lexie was again accosted by the officers from before and still angry at her near collision with the gurney, decided she was done being nice to people today. She pointed an angry finger towards the room Dean and Sam occupied and hoped that Grizzly Man was not there to be arrested. It was the last thing Dean needed to endure while he healed.

"Doctor, is this some kind of joke. Are you purposely trying to screw with us here cause this is getting a bit ridiculous," One of the cops had stormed out of the room 3, his face red with anger.

"What are you talking about?"

"There is no one in that room. Where the hell is Dean McCready?" Lexie followed the officer back to the room she'd been in a mere hour ago and was shocked to find it empty. Dean and Sam were nowhere to be seen.

"They were here an hour ago. I don't know what to tell you." The officer eyed her suspiciously then walked away to speak to his partner. They spent some time on the floor, questioning the nurses and orderlies about the men in room 3 but no one could tell them anything more than they were quiet boys, didn't make any fuss or raise any questions and would the officers mind telling them what they had done to warrant police involvement? The answer was always, "There was a stabbing, and we're required to check it out."

* * *

Lexie Grey thought about the McCready brothers all through the rest of her shift. Dean was in a fragile state and she worried about the damage that could be inflicted had Sam and Dean decided to run. She prayed that where ever the brothers were now, Dean was okay. She got her answer in the parking lot that night. Tucked under her windshield wiper blade was a hastily written note.

_Lexie, thank you for all you did. He's okay and I'll take good care of him, have been my entire life._

Lexie smiled at the note, crumpled it up and began the drive home to Meredith's.

FIN

* * *

_Author's Note: This a story that I think some day I'll pull back out and revise the heck out of. I got a case of writer's block on this one towards the end so I'll definitely revisit it some day. As it is, I hope you enjoyed._


End file.
